Newsletter

Dow's run to 13,000 benefited local stocks

It took 21½ months for the Dow Jones to go from 11,000 to 12,000. It took 13 more months to hit 13,000, which took place Feb. 28.

The stocks of local interest that did the best in the run to 13,000 were Bridgestone, Home Depot and CVS – all better than 10-point gains – with honorable mention to Kimberly-Clark and Southern Co.

On the flip side, American Airlines got itself bankrupt and delisted, and it went away with its American Eagle flights. The most troublesome decline during the 13,000 run-up goes to Quad Graphics, which started at $44.58 per share and finished at $13.07 after 13 months.

The whole list of Augusta-interest stocks finished higher, from 1,630.15 to 1,658.27.

The consistency award goes to International Flavors & Fragrance, which had a stock price of $57.50 on the open of Feb. 1, 2011, and a closing price of $57.60 on Feb. 28, 2012.

SHOW ME THE DOLLARS: A site plan has been filed with the city for a new 9,180 square foot Family Dollar store at 3352 Deans Bridge Road.

That’s the Meadow Brook Plaza Shopping Center.

DEKE ON DEBTWIRE: Debt-wire, part of the Financial Times newspaper group, interviewed Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver on Monday for a piece it did on cities hiring third-party consultants.

The news wire picked up on Augusta’s consideration on hiring an efficiency expert from the University of Georgia.

“It’s touching on setting the city on a course for the next five to 10 years rather than just looking at one budget every year and having the politics fight it out,” he said. “Governments don’t often think of the next 20 years but that’s what I’m pushing for.”

Copenhaver said the city should operate more like a business.

The expert might also have some use in mitigating the political impact of government actions.

“You rely on professional analysis rather than short-sighted political decision.”

FINANCING: Love Funding, one of the nation’s leading providers of FHA multifamily and health care financing, announced the closing of a $3.9 million loan refinancing for Center West Villas, a 160-unit market-rate apartment community in Augusta.

The funding company’s New York office secured the financing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 223(a)(7) loan program. Using the program enabled the property’s owner to reduce the interest rate and extend the loan back to its original 35-year term, generating more than $43,000 in annual debt service savings.The refinancing will also help increase the property’s reserve fund by about $153,000 and pay for about $125,000 in repairs.

The permanent debt on the property was originally provided through HUD’s 223(f) program in 1994. It was later refinanced through the 223(a)(7) program in 2003. The program allows up to 12 years to be added to the remaining term on existing HUD-insured loans, as long as it does not exceed the original term.